Strakka Racing showed true grit to finish a fighting seventh in the LMP2 class at the Circuit of The Americas (CoTA) last night. The US round of the World Endurance Championship was by far and away the toughest race for Strakka’s driver line up this season with temperatures reaching 33°C. Racing at the Texan track for the first time, Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane had predicted a tougher weekend competing against fellow drivers with previous experience at the spectacular Austin venue. Strakka Racing, also running for the first time at CoTA and in just its second race with the Gibson 015S, was still learning how to unlock the missing race performance, meaning the team was expecting a challenge from the start.
“That first stint was unbelievably hot even with us not having a closed car now,” says Danny Watts who started from fifth on the grid. “We had a great battle in those opening laps with the G-Drive and Alpine cars but it was seriously hard work. I was good for nothing when I got out of the car!” Watts handed over to Nick Leventis who enjoyed a relatively trouble-free stint with a quick spin being the only issue before passing the baton to Jonny Kane as dusk fell across the big sky.
As air temperatures cooled, Kane was able to extract more pace from the car and lap times constantly improved as he got to grips with the technical and popular track. A spin highlighted how hard Kane was trying to close the gap and he pursued relentlessly the class rivals before handing the car back to a recovered Danny Watts to complete the six-hour enduro seventh in class.
“It’s been a tough return to racing this year with changing the tyres and then the car but I know we made some big strides operationally in Texas,” says team principal Dan Walmsley. “We still lack pace but we are learning more about the Gibson each time. I’m really proud of how the entire team is making a giant effort to get ourselves back up the running order. We have said it before but we will not stop pushing to close the gap.”
With Strakka Racing now seventh in the LMP2 Endurance Trophy standings, the team personnel will now return to its Silverstone base with the Gibson shipped directly to the next round of the World Endurance Championship on the 11th October at Fuji in Japan.